Type-writing machine.



c. ELLIOTT.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE. APPLICATION man JUNE 29.1914.

Patented July 25, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Wimesses:

CPELLIOTT. TYPE WRITING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29. 1914.

1,192AM I Patented July 25,1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

a? /1? e @0 2 it Attorney.

C. ELLIOTT.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNEZQ, 1914.

1 ,1 92,40 1 Patented July 25, 1916.

4 SHEET$-SHEET 3.

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Witnesses:

C. ELLIOTT.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29. 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

' Patented July 25, 1916.

s PATENT OFFICE.

CRAWFORD ELLIOTT, OF OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THEELLIOTT VISIBLE BOOK AND GENERAL TYPEWRITERS LIMITED, OF GLASGOW,

SCOTLAND.

TYPE-WRITING- MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, CRAWFORD ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at 518 Stretford road, Old Trafi'ord, Manchester,England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relatinto Type-Writing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to typewriting machines which are adapted towrite on sheets of paper in a fiat condition or on the pages of boundbooks. Machines of this character have been designed in which the typebars are arranged around an opening in the base or framing for thepurpose of obtaining visible writing but the degree of visibility issmall and unsatisfactory chiefly for the reason that no provision ismade for lateral displacement of the ribbon and the type bars are madeof substantially straight formation; moreover, owing to the dispositionof the type bars, the axles thereof have been made of varying lengths,while the key board has considerably departed from the standard formgenerally emploved with typewriting machines.

The chief objects of my invention are to enable the operator to have afuller view of the work in progress than is possible with existingmachines, to enable a standard form of key board to be employed, toallow of the type bar axles being made of uniform length, and to providemeans whereby the reversible type heads can be positively operated.

In my improved machine I employ curved type bars mounted on long orextended axles of uniform length as in certain other kinds oftypewriting machines and these type bars are provided with reversibletype heads carrying two separate characters as is well understood.

According to this invention the improved machine comprises a number ofthe aforesaid curved type bars and axles which are arranged in such amanner that the type heads thereof are clustered together in twosuperposed rows on either side of the central axis of an opening in theframing of the machine, so that the portion of the said opening inproximity to the operator is entirely unobstructed and a clear view ofthe work obtained while operating the machine. In order to render thewriting point visible the ribbon is laterally displaced in the usualSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1916.

Application filed June 29, 1914. Serial N 0. 847,955.

manner toward or away from the writing point during the movement of thetype bars. Owing to the aforesaid disposition of the type bars, aspecial device has to be provided for effecting the reversal of the typeheads thereon and such device comprises an arcuate frame which isprovided with a series of arms or projections and is adapted to beoperated to bring said arms or projections into the path of movement ofthe type heads 1n order to positively shift them into the desiredposition. j

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readilycarried into effect, I will proceed to describe the same more fully withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which-:-

Figure 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 an underside view of a machine embodyingthe present invention, the machine in the last figure being turned upfrom its platen. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation taken on the line33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail view of a type bar and its connectionswith a type key lever. Fig. 5 is a plan of mechanism for controlling thestep by step movement of the machine and the operation of the ribbon.Fig. 6 is a side elevation of said mechanism, and Fig.7 is a partial endview thereof. Fig. 8 is a plan of a frame for effecting the reversal ofthe type heads carried by the type bars, and Fig. 9 is a sectional viewthereof.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 3, the apparatus comprises a mainframing a which is mounted with a capability of sliding on a rack rod arotatably mounted in brackets a formed on a slide a which is adapted tobe moved along a bed a. A platen a is arranged on'the bed a, and theslide a and the main framing a of the machine are adapted to bedisplaced along said bar at the termination of a line of type writing toeffect the desired line spacing. This movement may for example beimparted to the slide a automatically or (as shown in Fig. 1) by meansoftwo triggers or levers a, a which are operated to engage with the rack aformed on the bed of the machine. The lever a. is normally in engagementwith the rack a and serves to prevent the displacement of the slide. toimpart the movement to the slide, the lever a is first disengaged withthe rack a When it is desired and the lever a turned so that theextremity of the member a? pertaining thereto is placed in engagementwith a tooth of the rack. Said tooth forms a fulcrum for the lever a,and as pressure is applied to the end thereof by the operator apredetermined movement will be imparted to the slide along the bed a.

The main framing a of the machine is provided with a circular ring-likemember 6, Fig. 2, which is formed with a circular opening I) so that aclear viewmay be obtained of the platen or writing surfaces at. Aroundthis opening a number of long or extended axles of uniform length arearranged each of said axles being carried by a pair of brackets '11secured to the ring-like member I). The axles b are inclined to eachother and are arranged substantially tangential to circles struck from acommon center within the interior of the ring-like member. Two sets ofaxles b are provided one set being arranged on the underside of thering-like member 6 and the other set on the upper side thereof. Eachaxle b is provided: at its inner end with a type bar 6' which is formedintegrally therewith as shown in Fig. at or secured thereto in anysuitable manner. The type bars are made of curved formation and are eachprovided at their upper end with a reversible type head carrying twoseparate type characters 6 The type heads are mounted on the type-barsso as to be capable of angular displacement around the axles and areadapted to be positively operated'by an I arcuate frame which will behereinafter described. Two rows or series of type bars are provided andthey are carried respectively by the long or extended axles on theunderside of the ring-like member 6 and'the axles on the upper sidethereof. In this manner two rows of type heads are provided one abovethe other (2'. e. superposed) so that a large number of type charactersare disposed in a small compass. The type bars are normally contained inthe two portions of a basket or arcuate magazine 0 which portions aresupported on the ringlike member 6 of the frame a by suitable bracketsor the like. The arcuate magazine partially extends around the opening6' so that the type bars .are clustered in two groups on opposite sidesof the center line of the machine.

The outer end of each axle is provided with a'bell crank lever c Fig. 4,which is connected by means of a link 0 with the extremity of thecorresponding key lever 0 so that when said lever is depressed the axlewill be turned and the type bar brought into the printing position. Thearrangement of the type-bars around the ring like member 6 is such as toallow of any of the type bars being brought to a common printing pointon the platen, and at the. same time permit the operator to obtain afull and unobstructed view of thework.

The key levers c are arranged in accordance with the standard form ofkey board and are pivoted to the main framing a of the machine; they areadapted to act for example on .a universal bar 0 (Figs. 5 and 6)extending across the front of the framing. The universal bar is carriedat each end by a bifurcated lever 0" which is pivoted at 0 to theframing of the machine. One arm 0 of the lever c" is provided at its endwith a rod 0" which is adapted to engage with a f rk shaped arm (Icarried by a member (1 pivoted at d to an arm (15" carried by themainframing of the machine. The member (5 is provided with another arm (13*which is joined by a link (2 with a parallel mechanism d operativelyconnected with the ribbon fork or guide d When the universal bar 0* isdepressed by the operation of one of the key levers, the. ribbon (i willbe dis placed to the printing point so as to temporarily come beneaththe type character on the type bar operated by the key lever. Thislateral movement of the ribbon will always take place in a planeparallel to the plane of the platen owing to the action of the parallelmechanism d connected therewith.

The extremity e of each of the bifurcated levers c is connected by'a rodor link 6' with a lever 62 which is secured at e to a spring controlledrocking carrier e (Fig. 7 pivoted at e to the framing of the machine. Onthis carrier an escapement mechanism comprising two pawls a, e isprovided, said pawls being adapted when the carrier is rocked about thepivot to allow of the intermittent rotation of the ratchet wheel 0carried by a bracket f on the framing of the machine. The ratchet wheel6 is securely mounted on one end of a shaft f and is adapted to impartmovement to the said shaft and to a pinion f mounted at the other endthereof. This pinion is adapted to engage with a rack a formed on theshaft a and serves to impart a step by step movement to the machinealong said shaft when the aforesaid escapement mechanism is operated. Aspring drum f is mounted in a bracket ff carried by the extremity of therack-shaft a and is connected by a flexible metallic band f to a pin 7"formed on a bracket f carried by the main framing of the machine. Twolevers 6 (Figs. 5 and 6) are pivoted at e to the rocking carrier 6 andsaid levers rest on the upper side of the lever e actuated by theuniversal bar 0. A rod 6 is slidably mounted in the free ends of thelevers and is provided at each end with a pawl 6 Fig. 1. These pawls arearranged adjacent to two ratchet wheels 0 carried by the spindles e ofthe ribbon spools e and one or other of the same may be brought intooperative relation with its corresponding ratchet wheel by imparting anaxial movement to the rod 0 This movement may be imparted to the rod bya suitable lever 6 carried by the framing of the machine.

The extension f of the main framing a on which the escapement mechanismis mounted is provided with a number of antifriction rollers f whichengage with opposite sides of the shaft a and serve to connect the mainframing of the machine with said shaft, in such a manner that it is freeto traverse the same under the influence of the spring drum f Tworollers f are also provided for supporting the machine on the rod a.

The reversal of the type heads 6 is efiected by means of the arcuateframe 9 (Figs. 8 and 9) which may carry two series of radial arms 9arranged at different levels to correspond with the two rows or seriesof type bars 6. Two perforated lugs g are provided on the frame and areadapted to be engaged with two pins 9 arranged on the framing of themachine, Fig. 1. Each of these pins is provided with a spiral or otherspring 9 which flexibly supports the frame 9 above the type bars. Theframe is connected by suitable mechanism not shown, with the shift keysg and the depression of these latter will cause the frame to be loweredagainst the action of the springs g. When the frame .is in the lowestposition the extremities 9 of the radial arms 9' thereon are in the pathof movement of the type bars and will engage with the projections 9formed on the type heads thereof (Fig. 4) when the type keys areoperated. In this manner an angular movement will be imparted to each ofthe type heads about its axle 79 so that the lower type character willbe brought to the operative position. It will of course be understoodthat if the frame 9 is not operated the upper type character b will bein the operative position. A spring 9 is carried on the backfof eachtype bar (Fig. 4) and its end 9 is adapted to engage with the front orrear of a projection is formed on the back of the type heads so as toretain the same in its two positions of displacement about the axle b*.After the printing operation has been effected the type head is reset toits normal position by the engagement of the projection g thereon withthe interior of the basket or arcuate magazine 0.

' If a type head is to be reversed, one of the change keys 9 is firstdepressed to bring the frame 9 into the operative position, so that whenthe type key corresponding to the type head operated the desiredreversal will be effected and the proper character brought to theprinting position.

A spacing bar is is provided on the machine and is adapted to act uponthe universal bar 0* in a similar manner to the type key levers toeffect the desired spacing.

It will be seen that the arrangement is such that the machine as a wholeis adapted to move across the surface of the platen a on which the workis arranged.

The underside of the framing a may be provided with rollers or wheels kfor engaging with a rail k on the slide a so as to afford support to themachine and permit of the type keys being operated without danger ofstraining or damaging the same. A projecting arm or stop is may beformed onthe extension f of the main framing so as to limit the movementof the machine the raised position shown in Fig. 2, that is to say movedaway from the platen (1 a. When the machine is in this position the endof the stop M will engage with a rail k formed on the slide a (Fig. 3)and retain the machine in the raised position.

What I claim and desire to secure by Let: ters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. In a book typewriter, a movable frame having a centralopening therein, opposed groups of type bars mounted on the frame at theopposite sides of the opening, an annulus on the frame about the openingto support said type bars, elongated axles on the lower ends of the typebars extending substantially tangentially across the upper and lowerfaces of said annulus and diverging outwardly therefrom, a standardkey-board, and connections between the spaced-apart divergingends of theaxles and the keys of the key-board.

, 2. In a book typewriter, a movable frame having a central sightopening therein, a supporting ring on the frame about the sight opening,opposed groups of closely nested type bars rising from the ring,elongated axles on the lower ends of the type bars traversing the upperand lower faces of the ring and diverging outwardly therefrom, akey-board, and connections between the keys and the diverging ends ofthe axles.

. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

CRAWFORD ELLIOTT.

Witnesses:

JOHN l/VILLIAM THOMAS, MALCOLM SMETHURST.

80 when it is turned with the rod a to assume

